Traditionally, a product and/or the accompanying packaging material bearing the trademark of the manufacture suffices as the most common or typical means to market a product in commerce. Obviously, this form of advertising is very limited insofar that the commercial impression on the consumer is short-lived due its basic inadequacy of being a disposable item. Thus, once used, each is loss of means for effective advertising. Nonetheless, numerous devices have evolved over the years to assist in the effective marketing of products besides that of the packaging material or the product in and of itself. One would be hard-pressed not to find such devices in today's advertising-savvy economy; one simply cannot avoid such means of advertising. Those worth mentioning and most relevant to the present invention generally comprise of some sort of transportable carrier having sufficient area to bear a company's trademark or slogan to draw further attention to a particular product or event worth promotion. In typical instances of its usage as an advertising medium, the carrier may be either used in further promotion of the product it accompanies or used to promote another product, quite different from the one it attaches to. Such devices well known in the art for use with a beverage container and serving as a medium for advertising include a coaster of the type generally placed on a table's surface, below a beverage container, an all-encompassing insulating barrier fitted about and around the beverage container, commonly known in the art as a “huggy,” and a stir stick placed within the beverage container, to name a few. As in most cases, particularly with those as previously mentioned, the advertising medium may comprise of added functionality besides that of promoting a product or event. For example, the coaster generally serves as a protective barrier between the beverage bottom and table surface to inhibit scratching thereof or spillage thereon, while the huggy assists in retaining the thermal capacity of the liquid contained within the beverage container. Although each of these devices more or less possesses dual capabilities, and in some cases more, there are apparent limitations or draw backs associated with each device, particularly relating to the means for effective promotion of a product or event. The most apparent limitation is associated with the user's handing and use of the product insofar to interfere with the device's ability to continually serve as an effective advertising medium. For example, the coaster as well as the huggy will generally comprise of an adequate surface for displaying advertising material thereon, but later may be obstructed by the user's placement or usage of the product (i.e., placement of hands about the huggy and beverage container sitting atop the coaster effectively block-out the advertisement).
In accordance with the present invention, applicant has appreciably devised a mechanism for repeated and continual means of promoting a product or event in anticipation of enhancing the overall commercial impression on the consumer, while at the same time providing a device having spill prevention and thermal retention capabilities, such device being easily fitted into and movable from an existing beverage container without undue modification thereof.